Sunday, January 15, 2017

OPPOSE SB 5094!

If passed, SB 5094 would prevent Washington cities and towns from effectively preventing fatal and disfiguring dog attacks before they happen, by preventing communities from adopting legislation pertaining specifically to pit bulls, pit mixes, and a few closely related breeds, cumulatively less than 7% of the U.S. dog population, but responsible nonetheless for more than 80% of all dog-inflicted fatal and disfiguring injuries.

We are Washington residents and voters since 1996.

I am a journalist and statistician, working on news beats pertaining to animals, public health, and occupational safety for more than 45 years. My wife Beth is a former police officer, animal control officer, veterinary technician, and pit bull rescuer.

Since 1982 we have logged and analyzed fatal and disfiguring dog attacks throughout the U.S. and Canada, more recently adding logs specific to India, the United Kingdom, and South Africa. In every nation the data is strikingly similar: pit bulls, pit mixes, pit variants such as the “American bully,” and closely related breeds such as the bull mastiff, Presa Canario, Dogo Argentino, and Fila Brasiliero account for 80%-plus of fatal and disfiguring attacks. This is no surprise, because historically these breeds have been bred specifically for fighting, and farther back ancestrally, to guard slaves and wage war.

You may read the latest data pertaining to dog attacks on humans, complete through 2016, when 91% of human death and disfigurement victims were injured by pit bulls, at:

The complete statistics, 1982-present, showing that over the past 34 years, 88% of the human victims of fatal or disfiguring dog attacks were injured by pit bulls and their closest canine relatives, are here:

The Best Friends Animal Society, American Veterinary Medical Association, and ASPCA introduced their ongoing campaigns to repeal breed-specific legislation between 1992 and 2001. Note that the numbers of fatal and disfiguring pit bull attacks on humans have been higher in every year since 2002 than in the entire decade 1982-1992.

The Humane Society of the U.S. joined them in 2008. Since then, the total number of pit bulls involved in fatal and disfiguring attacks each year has increased nearly tenfold, the number of child victims per year is up nearly fivefold, the number of adult victims per year has increased nearly tenfold, there were record numbers of fatalities in five out of nine years, and the number of disfigurements per year has increased eleven times over.

32 comments:

Another child slaughtered by pit bulls this morning (January 17, 2017). This bill absolutely has no place in civilized society! Why are we protecting a breed of dog over our CHILDREN?!

Fur mommies need to get over their pit bull fetish, and realize that human children deserve protection, not pit bulls.

I am sick to my stomach over this latest mauling. A child walking to the bus stop has his life taken away by worthless pit bulls, and another child is in serious condition. This is the reality pit bulls bring, and it is so disturbing that I wish it wasn't true. Unfortunately, it is true. My heart is broken for the family of the victim. May he rest in peace. He certainly didn't die peacefully.

I should have started reading the bill first, but it is infuriating me!

"(2) The legislature further finds that breed-specific ordinancesfail to address any of the factors that cause dogs to becomeaggressive and place an undue hardship on responsible dog owners whoprovide proper socialization and training."

WRONG!

I'm not even going to get into the "factors that cause dogs to become aggressive" but I will touch on the "undue hardship".

First of all, most pit bull owners are irresponsible. Secondly, having breed specific legislation is meant to cause people to think twice before getting a pit bull. Higher liability requires higher responsibility. The "undue hardship" has always been on victims of pit bull attacks. Often times, the irresponsible pit bull owner does not have insurance, has no assets, and the victim of the pit bull attack is stuck with millions of dollars of hospital bills. On top of that, because of lax criminal laws, pit bull owners sometimes get away with murder.

i'm not sure this killing, horrific as it is, is any worse that the detroit fatality where a kid was killed while walking with his mother. if i remember correctly, the kid was attacked through a fence adjacent to the sidewalk.

when it comes to ugly pit bulls, we are safer in any zoo in america than our own neighborhoods, our own back yards and even our own homes.

In the Detroit case, the child was dragged into the back yard. All of the fatal maulings are horrific. For me, it is hard to fathom that these are actually true stories. They seem more like horror stories or twisted fables. Unfortunately, they're all too real, and we have disturbed people advocating for pit bulls.

There is a video of the hearing that took place on January 17, 2017. Ellen Taft is speaking on behalf of keeping the bans. OMG! SHE IS AMAZING!

It picks up at 45 minutes into the session. It starts out with Guy Palumbo, who is sponsoring the bill, (he owns a kennel, has never been bitten by a pit bull, but has been bitten by, 2 min pins, an Aussie cattle dog, Jack Russel Terriers, and a Chow Chow) so he wants to eliminate breed bans. Conflict of interest?

unfortunately, there is some misinformation presented by our side. first of all, ohio didn't have a state ban. they had a law that basically said pit bulls are differently dangerous.secondly, pit bulls don't have 1800 psi.

The other unfortunate thing is, we were outnumbered. It's still true about the amount of deaths in Ohio. Somehow, death by pit bull is minimized in the minds of pit bull supporters. I'm so happy all of those people had positive experiences with pit bulls. It does not magically erase all of the bad experiences other people have had with pit bulls. It baffles me how a dog used in dog fighting, bred for that specific purpose, has to be "trained" to fight other dogs, according to Guy Palumbo. When people say things like that, I'd like for them to prove that a pit bull has been trained to fight another dog. Instead of accepting that such a thing happens naturally for a pit bull, they want to blame owners/trainers. No, that's like saying a Border Collie has to be trained to herd, or a Husky doesn't like winter. How do you train a Border Collie not to herd, or a Husky not to love winter? You can't! Nor can anyone train a pit bull to never fight, maul, or kill.

From the way he made it sound, his kennel was filled to the brim with nanny dogs.

I read some of the comments on the video link. Of course the victim was being blamed for not reading the signs that the pit bull was stressed. I definitely saw that the dog was getting ready to bite at 1:28 seconds, but to blame the victim is so typical of nutters. If a dog bites someone that is petting it, the dog obviously can't handle life and should be dirt napped. I could not help but laugh when the reporter continued offering information to adopt Carter, or any other animal. Yes, I want Carter for $31! What a steal!

I just wanted to say I love this blog.I found it recently and it and many others on your blog roll have really opened my eyes. I have read every post here and at Animal Uncontrol, Why I hate your dog and a few others.

If you made up the story of pit nutters in a book or film no one would believe it. It would be too far fetched. A group that harasses parents of dead children around Christmas? A professional lobbyist that contacts parents of dead kids and ask for the lineage of the dogs that did the killing? That lobbyist then tries to talk the parents out of calling the dogs pit bulls when talking to the media? One of the largest pro pit groups being the off shoot of a cult?

No one would believe it.

Ledy VanKavage even sounds like the name of some sort of Bond villain for cryin' out loud!

You almost can't parody these people. What could you make up that is stranger or even more irresponsible than what they say?

thanks for the kind words and the link to the bulldog breeder. interesting. they say imitation is the most sincere flattering. he imitated my graphics, although he continues to perpetuate all standard pit bulls myths.

Found my new wallpaper!http://images2.westword.com/imager/leaked-photos-of-pit-bulls-killed-due-to/u/original/6511351/pitbullsdead2.jpgHere are a few other choices.http://www.westword.com/news/leaked-photos-of-pit-bulls-killed-due-to-denver-ban-5877914

They blame this on Denver's ban. We have to take an anonymous source's word for it that these are pics from Denver. With a million or so undogs destroyed each year you could find pitpocalypse pics like this at shelters in most major cites.

Shame you can't go to your local shelter and pick up a few expired pits. I would love to do some ballistics testing.

Thanks for the plug, and you are correct: Fact is stranger than fiction and if I wrote a book about this, it would be deemed implausible.

Professional harassers of victims? What civilized society would tolerate that? Heh, I guess we are post civilization. The actions of pit nutters and dog worshipers is an outrage that no civilized person would tolerate, yet we somehow learn to live with it.

Perhaps whoever rises from the ashes of this mess will make sense of it.

Here is a thought: You know those "tests" where you have to prove you are not a 'bot'? I dunno what they call them, but you have to properly ID something or other in a series of photos - I.E. select all the photos with a store front or a fruit or some such.

Here is a good challenge: Have all the posters ID a photo of a PIT BULL... you know, what they SAY cannot be identified! IOW's you have to ID pit bulls to post. THAT would hoist them by their petards!

Pit bulls are very dangerous, but in a bit of irony, scurrilous amateur blogger posted a story in March 2011 with a quote from a pit bull nutter who said it is not the pit bulls, but the owners who are the problem. Wrong, these dogs have some sort of genetic trigger in their head which sends them into a rage. I would not want to be around any pit bulls. It seems hypocritical to advocate and support a nutter who makes up fake stories and then support the nutter's comments. This bill seems ridiculous and should be defeated, and scurrilous amateur blogger should better research his stories so he does not become labeled as a pit bull advocate.

I'm going to guess that the March 2011 story you posted, might be considered that you agree with the comment "it is not the pit bulls, but the owners who are the problem."

I don't think there's any possibility that you'd be mistaken for a pit bull advocate.

Meanwhile, in Spokane, Washington, a little 5-year-old girl got her face ripped up by a pit bull. This happened in February of this year. But let's write a bill that gives pit bulls more rights than little 5-year-old girls. It's important to allow communities the opportunity for pit bulls to disfigure children, or kill them depending on the attack, than preventing these injuries in the first place.

thanks for drilling that down, i guess. almost the entire of march 2011 was devoted to tia torres. i didn't know and still don't what exactly they are referring to but if you are correct, i stand by the statement that humans are the bigger problem. they created them, continue to create them, make excuses for them, lie for them, shove them down everyone's throats. and by THEM - i mean ugly mutant gripping dogs.

as far as anyone thinking i am a pit nutter, that would bother me only slightly more than people thinking that i am in cahoots with breeders or that i am pimple on a mulatto crack whore's ass. and since those are zero, well, i've already forgotten what i was talking about. lol.

back to the attack in my state, love the nutter freak's comment that she won't let her dog be killed over an "accident", as if the little girl's face fell into the ugly mutant's jaws and it had no alternative but to deliver 50 stitches. what a sick bitch. i hope this ugly dog kills her a week after it is released back into the freak's home.

but this attack is another example of why humans are the bigger problem. dogs created by humans, defended by humans and when the ugly dogs PROVE themselves dangerous, the human and canine mutants are protected by laws created and enforced by..... HUMANS! pit bulls are not the ones writing laws in washington. pit bulls don't put on their scraps uniform and go out do jane's bidding everyday either. FUCKING HUMANS DO.

just because i think humans are the bigger problem, doesn't mean that i don't recognize the fact that these "dogs" were selected for to hair trigger rages.

I agree 100% that humans are the bigger problem. We are the ones that can change what is happening. We have two very different points of view. From the pit bull advocates' perspective, pit bulls must be given a chance, saved, re-homed, and not discriminated against. From the other side's perspective, prevention is the choice for dealing with pit bulls. I agree with taking measures to prevent pit bull attacks from happening in the first place. It's humane for the pit bulls, and eliminating victims just makes sense.

Pit bulls cannot help that they perform what they were bred to do. Not all pit bulls dismember people, but the fact that they can should raise concern. Not all Siberian Huskies pull sleds, but no one is shocked when one does. Huskies cannot be let off leash ever because they will run and keep going. Huskies are not for everyone, and are considered a dangerous breed as well. My point is, people know exactly what dog breeds are capable of.

People can prevent pit bull attacks, it's just taking a long ass time to accomplish it because we are fighting against a group that does not care one iota about victims of pit bulls.

Not every single husky will run away, but you won't know if your husky will run away until you let it offleash.

Same thing with pits. You won't know if your pit will maul and dismember until the day that it does. They don't come with a little sticker that warns you "this pitbull will maul one day", and they can outwardly appear to be gentle loving family pets - until the day that they aren't.

I've been trying to track this bill on and off for months and each time I try I get the wrong bill, because the title of the article doesn't match the bill number. It should be 5094, not 5904. (Finally figured that out today).

Any developments on this? Im in Seatac/WA where theres BSL on the books, containment/muzzle laws but NEVER enforced. Beyond fighting of repeal how do we even fight to get current laws enforced? Now that the summer rush has descended on Angle Lake hafta be armed just to walk with my 'normal dog' in park, thug-wannabe assh@les let their little kids hold purebred shitbulls on loose chains, eying my invaluable intensively trained service dog like a f@cking chew toy- dont even get me started on fraud 'emotional support pitbulls' using ADA to skirt BSL, lunging at legit k9s in cramped quarters- stress is compounding my physical condition. Thanks for keeping us posted on misinformed BSL-Bans, world needs to see more coverage of the disasters being caused by ADA BSL loophole too, f@ck Animal Farm Foundation they dont give a sh!t about disabled community

no developments that i am aware of but then i have not made an effort to follow up. i gave up fighting city hall a long time ago. in the case of pit bulls and other dangerous cretins, i promote self defense, preferably of the lethal kind.

i made my mind up a long time ago that the triple S MO was how i intended to deal with a serious dog attack in the future . the authorities really dont give a toss what happens to mere property , which is how our pets are viewed legally . recently in my area , a womans dog ripped up a lab puppy and then told the owners it was a lesson in boundaries and with that she left fled the scene . she was tracked down by animal control and has now be fined the huge sum of 100$ . sounds rather lenient considering that she and her dog are well known and have been involved in previous incidents . i think it would have been very appropriate to sieze the offending dog and have it euthanized but i guess animal control in the area is dealing with dangerous dogs with a different attitude than i have .